For many, working from home is a new reality. But, it’s not that easy for everyone to create an office space. Especially if two people are attempting to work together in one house, organize meetings, and have different working styles.
Remote work can be difficult if you don’t find a way to balance work and life. Creating a separate space is critical, and the day we found out that both my husband and myself working from home was now a permanent transition, we quickly realized that one office wasn’t going to work with our schedules.
The problem? We only have one office space — and our toddler is at home all day with her grandma. So, finding a quiet, separate area with enough room for all of our equipment wasn’t going to be easy. But, it was time to get creative and do a little home office remodel to create a second office space that made sense and gave us flexibility.
Step 1: Get Creative With Your Space
Our first step when creating a second office space in our home was the hunt to find a room where we could fit a desk that would be quiet for hours and had some natural light. So, sort of like you would for any home renovation or remodel, we made our list of essentials and began to hunt for space.
The most natural fit was working with our primary bedroom. Until this point, we had kept our original queen-sized bedroom set in a room that could easily fit a king-sized bed, which meant that we had some room to work with.
After doing a bit of measuring and brainstorming, we decided to use one of the walls as an office and the other walls as the bedroom. We figured that by painting the one wall, we would create enough separation to continue having a healthy work-life balance. Not only that, but this meant we would have the ability to close the door for meetings, there were big windows with excellent natural light and the office desk we already had would fit the space perfectly. It hit all of our needs and wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg to complete.
Step 2: Create a Plan and Budget
When we work on any home improvement project, the first thing we discuss before purchasing items is how much we can afford to spend. Although it’s not as fun to put yourself on a budget for interior design, you must never overexert your financial situation for an update. Instead, prioritize your fixed expenses first. From there, you can use any additional funds for these special projects.
As we always have a home renovation fund that we replenish and save for on an ongoing basis, we already had some money stashed away. Because we already had all of the office supplies we would need, our most significant expenses were paint and materials to complete the paint job. In the end, we figured a small budget of $500 would be enough to cover this remodel and allow us to get our start right away.
We weren’t exactly sure where to start as rookies to painting, other than the occasional help-a-friend-move-paint-jobs.
Our plan involved a few steps, including speaking to others with more experience.
- Clean and reorganize the current space to make room for new office
- Choose paint colours and purchase supplies
- Move office furniture from downstairs to upstairs
- Decorate and accessorize the space
Step 3: Book a Weekend for Home Improvements
When you’re doing a small home office remodel, for the most part, any do-it-yourself project of this size can be done on the weekend. Give yourself time to clean the walls, vacuum the floors, dust the area, and do all of the prep work (like taping the walls) the day before you paint.
If you are only doing a small bedroom, you can plan to spend one day on the paint job, adding two coats of paint to ensure the quality of colour comes through. Then, on day three, you can spend time setting up the office and organizing your decor or accessories.
Step 4: Purchase the Right Furniture
If I’ve learned anything from my two years of being a homeowner, it’s that you have to measure your space and make sure that whatever furniture you purchase fits that area. For example, I’ve now bought the wrong barstools height and mistook the size of a dresser, which has been quite an annoying task to correct. In other words, take the time to measure.
Secondly, when creating a home office, you want to ensure that comfort and ergonomics are front and center. For example, if you sit in your chair for more than six hours a day, you must buy something to help your posture. The desk should also be the right height for you to look at your computer straight on.
When purchasing any of these supplies and furniture, ask your employer whether they can compensate you for these buys or what your budget might be.
Our Before and After
Here is what our before and after office space in our main bedroom looks like!
The Before:
The After:
Ultimately, doing a home office remodel can be a fun project with minimal costs. The most critical steps are budgeting, planning, and purchasing the right furniture to turn your new office into a comfortable and inspiring space.
